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10 questions with Sharooz
He's currently tearing up the electro charts with his latest peak-time bruiser 'Get Off'. Sound to Sample's main man Sharooz takes a break from his DJ schedule to spill a few production secrets.
Bursting onto the scene in 2006, Sharooz’s debut ‘Hell Yeah’ was played numerous times on Radio 1 and sold over 60,000 units. In the last two years he has released on a variety of labels including Milk & Sugar, Instereo and Full Force. He has also remixed or been remixed by Dave Aude, Miles Dyson, Dylan Rhymes, Malente and even Craig David and DJd as far afield as Ibiza, France, Russia, Sweden, Serbia and all over the UK. His latest release 'Get Off' was one of last year's bestselling dance downloads and spent more than two months in the Beatport charts.
Who's currently rocking your world as a producer and why?
Too many to choose from - Crookers, Erol Alkan, Dubfire - I think those guys are as hot as it gets. I love a lot of what Will Bailey does - he uses loads of aliases each within a different genre and completely kills all of them. Sebastien Leger makes awesome tracks with a beautiful melodic edge. Miles Dyson has the most massive electro sound around. One guy to really keep an eye on in 2009 is Sami Liuski who worked on the new Sample Magic Minimal Techno collection - a genuine shining bright talent.
What's your opinion on processing the mix buss? Leave it clean or drive it to the extreme?
I'm keen on both approaches. Carefully used multiband compression on the mix bus can really help bring your tunes up to a par with what else is out there. On the other hand I genuinely believe these tools are being abused. About 50 per cent of what I listen to or get sent has been squashed and compressed almost beyond comprehension - you can't hide a bad production or substandard ideas behind ear-frazzling levels.
Do you mainly use analogue or digital soft synth sources? Do you think analogue really makes a difference?
I am one of the many who genuinely believes analogue sound sources make a big audible difference. Take a simple saw wave generated through a Juno 6 or an SH-101 and compare it with the equivalent from a soft synth and the difference in tone and character is night and day. Analogue sound sources tend to sound sooo much better than digital when you pile on the plug-ins too.
How do you see the dance music industry developing over the next two years?
It's really hard to say. Only three years ago everyone was predicting doom and gloom and the death of dance music, yet against all those predictions things have reaIly turned around and there are more amazing new producers and music around now than ever before. I think production will become increasingly important in securing DJ gigs. It will become freer and easier to share ideas (and unfortunately also have your ideas plagiarised). Above and beyond everything I really hope illegal downloaders finally get a conscience and realise that if they continue what they're doing there won't be a dance music industry in another decade.
When building a track, how do you normally work? Do you start with the drums and build your way up from there?
I always start with the drums: if the beat ain't rocking and groove isn't right it's very hard to get the other elements tight. If it's a vocal track, sometimes I'll start with the acapella and fit my groove to that.
Any arrangement secrets you want to share with us?
Here's a simple trick that helps a track work well in the context of a DJ set. When it comes to the main breakdown, drop the master bus level by 2-3db and bring it back up to 0db exactly at the point at which it kicks back in. Even if the track has been mastered with virtually no headroom left, it will still make the drop stand out nicely.
Any advice on monitoring? Quiet? Loud? Do you prefer flat and boring speakers, headphones or big, phat and chunky monitors?
I'm careful not to overdo the levels as I'm often in ten hour studio sessions and going at ridiculous levels for that long is likely to seriously damage your hearing in the long-term. I tend to structure sounds together at a fairly loud level but when it comes to the mixdown I normally work quietly on NS10s. The Sample Magic stuff is always done quietly and constantly A/Bd between the big (Focal Twin 6) monitors and NS10s.
Describe your typical workflow on a track
Get great idea. Programme rocking rhythm. Add solid bassline. Bring in a dose of drama. Add a breakdown or build. Develop a fierce arrangement. Then tweak, sculpt, flatten, shape and mould the shit out of it in the mixdown.
Loops or programming your own beats from single hits and why?
Both. Programming from scratch always yields interesting results but using loops or parts of loops helps to knit your own grooves together. Musical sample loops are always useful and definitely a better option than sampling someone else's record wholesale, which I would never do!
What is the secret to being a successful producer?
I'm still searching for it! I don't like to get complacent and I feel I'm learning every day.
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More from Sharooz: www.sharooz.com
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